


The safest place to hide

by ixieko



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 06:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5616808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ixieko/pseuds/ixieko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gast and Hojo visit their families on New Year's Eve. AKA that AU where everyone's alive and nothing hurts (well, almost nothing).</p>
            </blockquote>





	The safest place to hide

**Author's Note:**

> Based on (and inspired by) this ["photo" by Crimson Sun](http://risingoflights.tumblr.com/post/118588020896/a-photo-from-a-different-timeline), and also by [a lovely, but very annoying cristmas song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnJ8jsw4BSo) which my kids listened non-stop for a few hours (and I still can't get rid of it playing inside my head).

The storm was approaching from the west. A dark gray mass of clouds was too far away to look truly menacing, but it was a matter of hours until it reached the islands.  
It would be very unfortunate if they needed to head back to Midgar soon, but they did not, not during the next few days. The last six days of the year, from Miranda's Mercy till New Year's Eve, in the last few years had become Shin-Ra's official holiday season, which Professor Faremis, with his usual mix of practicality and sentimentality, turned into an official inspection of one of the remote research facilities - and, simultaneously, a family holiday.

The airplane turned left, beginning its slow descent to the island below. From a tiny porthole, Hojo could see the wing that trembled in the turbulent airflow as if it was about to fall off. The probability of it happening was, of course, very low, but it still made him uncomfortable every time he'd had to fly the tiny planes over the big distances.

"Ah, such an idiotic mistake," Gast muttered, drawing Simon's attention from the scenery outside. "A simple calculation error, and so much work went down the drain." He sighed and adjusted his glasses.  
Simon leaned back and closed his eyes. There was fifteen minutes more of flight - if the Turk at the plane controls wouldn't make any mistakes, of course. Which he might. In Simon's opinion, the man could not be trusted even with driving a car, but, probably, he was biased.  
Well, he _was_ biased.  
A _lot_ , actually.

The plane touched the landing strip and ran along it, bouncing a little on the uneven dirt surface, and come to a halt near the end of it.

The island met them with hot wind and a loud cacophony of sounds: both birds and insects seemed to shout all at once at the top of their ability. Still, it was a good kind of change from the green smog and cold rain of Midgar winter.  
The minute Gast and Simon stepped outside, they were surrounded by kids who jumped out of the bushes at the side of the landing strip. Simon knew that there were only four - three boys and one girl, - but they were so fast and so loud that there could easily have been ten of them.

Aeris was by far the smallest of them, and she was quickly picked up by Gast who put her on his shoulders, where she hugged his head, blocking his view and screaming in excitement, "Daddy! Daddy came!"

Simon was briefly hugged by Sephiroth - who now was the tallest of the three boys - and received from him the brightest smile in the world, and just managed to notice how much the boy grew up since he'd last seen him, when Sephiroth let him go and dashed to the last person on the scene, shouting, "Uncle Vin!"  
"Uncle Vin," - which was a nickname of one Vincent Valentine, of course, - immediately pulled all three boys into a hug, and, laughing, began to answer their countless questions about his missions as a Turk (which he, of course, was making up).

Hojo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Valentine had always been better at dealing with kids, but Simon found a solace in a fact that, despite all his easy camaraderie with the boy, Vincent was still just "uncle Vin", good for playing with and telling funny stories, but Simon was "Dad", and when the boy needed an advice or an explanation on a serious topic, - when he needed a father, - he went to Hojo.

...

The women were waiting for them in the shadow of the grove, hidden from scorching rays of the sun. Ifalna made an attempt at pulling Aeris off Gast's shoulders, but the girl held on tight and refused to let go. Lucrecia looked a bit uncertain, glancing between Simon and Vincent, as if she was still unsure if they were good with each other, or were going to attempt murder once more. In the end, she hugged them both, - first Simon and then Vincent, - looked at them closely and seemed to be satisfied by whatever she'd seen.

Together they walked ut of the woods and through the apple orchards towards the village of Banora. The boys trailed behind the adult, time and again disappearing into the bushes and emerging again. Valentine was overlooking the surroundings, even though the island was completely safe. A force of habit, Simon supposed, or maybe, - he smirked a little at the thought, - nervouseness. This was only the second time they visited Banora together.

...

The sun was climbing down towards the horizon, where the first clouds of the approaching storm already began to blur the line between the sky and the sea. Simon was reclining on a beach chair, nursing a drink and watching the kids building castles in the sand. Or, rather, building Valentine's grave, he thought, looking at the dark-haired head sticking out of the large pile of sand.  
Farther away, closer to the water, Aeris was walking with her mother, time and again crouching to pick up another small seashell and give it to Ifalna whose pockets were already full of them.

Once more Simon found himself wondering at what, precisely, was Ifalna doing there, in the small village in the middle of nowhere, several hours of flight away from Midgar, - and from her husband, who was also the head of the Science Department. The official reason was her research of several very interesting mutations of the local wildlife, caused by presence of Mako in water springs, but... She was one of the brightest scientists of Shin-Ra, and this research seemed so far below her league that Simon couldn't help but think that there was something else.  
And he had an idea of what, exactly, was the hidden reason.

Some time ago Simon had asked Gast to allow the more in-depth research of Sephiroth's genome, or at the very least his abilities. It always seemed deeply illogical to him that the only perfect Cetra hybride they created would remain hidden in the closet, never to be allowed to show his true powers.  
But Gast's responce had been a firm "No." Hojo had to admit, he'd lost his temper a bit at that, demanding the reason why he wasn't allowed to at least run a comparative analysis of human and Cetra genomes, to know which differences were between the two races.  
"As I've already said numerous times," Faremis had answered, "Jenova wasn't a true Cetra. We still aren't sure what she was, and until we know that, any additional analysis and experiments with any of her cells and their carriers are prohibited."  
"How do you know she wasn't a Cetra?"  
"Because," Faremis had said then, "I found a true Cetra, and the differences between them are very obvious."  
Gast had refused to give any more information, such as where the new Cetra was found, alive or not, which tests were already run and what the results were... Apparently, all that information had been above Hojo's security clearance level.

Simon had tried to use a known backdoor, namely his old friend Veld, but after a talk with him the situation had become even more questionable, because the Turk had not been able to give him any information. There could have been two reasons for that: either the security clearance had been too high even for an old friendship, or Turks had not been aware of the new project. The latter seemed improbable, but, of course, not entirely impossible.

And, if the "Project: New Cetra" indeed existed, then the presence of Gast's wife in the tiny village of Banora could have meant that the Cetra was also there.

Apparently, while deep in thought, he stared too much, because Ifalna was frowning at him. Noticing that, he saluted her with a glass, and she answered with a smile and waved her hand at him. Aeris mimicked her motion. Looking at them, Simon tried to think of a way to question Ifalna about the new Cetra in a way that wouldn't be too obvious to her - or, maybe, of a way to track her around the village, see who she was interacting with.

"Enjoying yourself?" Lucrecia's voice interrupted his thoughts. He turned to look at her. She was leaning over his shoulder from behind, smiling, her eyes bright in the light of the setting sun. She was beautiful, as beautiful as years ago, before Sephiroth, before the Jenova project... Maybe even more beautiful.  
"Getting a tan," He answered, trying - and failing - to keep himself from smiling back at her.  
"A tan? Really?" Lucrecia laughed softly. "Wearing a _shirt_?"  
"Why not?"  
She chuckled and pressed her lips briefly to his cheek in a soft kiss. Simon closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the feeling. He wanted more, of course, much, much more, but for now he would take what he could get. With Valentine around, he didn't know what Lucrecia would allow him to do.  
"There's something I want to show you," She said quietly, leaning closer to his ear. "There's something going on with Sephiroth, - or, maybe, it's just my imagination. I'm not really sure, and I don't want to bother Gast with it..."  
"How are _you_ feeling?" He asked her, searching her face. She seemed a little distressed, but nothing like during - during the time they all didn't want to remember.  
"I'm fine," She said. "Really, I'm okay. No nightmares, no hallucinations, no weird mood changes, no nothing. I just... I need you to check it."  
He put the glass into the holder and got up from the chair. Lucrecia led him to her house, a lovely green two-storey house surrounded by flowers. Passing through the door, Simon hesitated and looked back. The sun was setting into the heavy clouds which drew much closer while he was musing about the Cetra and talking to Lucrecia. The storm was coming.  
He stepped inside the house and closed the door behind him.

...

On the beach, Gast and Ifalna were walking together in comfortable silence, enjoying the fresh breeze from the sea. Aeris was fast asleep, still sitting on her father's shoulders, with her head lying on top of his head, and his hands holding her in place, preventing her from falling down.  
Gast eyed the approaching clouds uneasily and looked at Ifalna.  
"The storm is almost here," He said. "And it looks very big. _Too_ big. Are you sure you're safe here?"  
She smiled at him. "This place is safe," She said. "Actually, this is maybe _the_ safest place for us to be. You know that, right?"  
"And whatever happens," She added a minute later, "We're going to get through it. We will be okay, Gast. All will be alright."


End file.
